School closed to most students from end of day on Friday 20 March 2020 (published 19.03.20)

The following message from our Headteacher, Mrs Grewal-Joy, has been sent to all parents today (19 March 2020):

We have now been instructed to close the school to almost all students after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs - all relevant parents of those children have been contacted by our SENCO

KGR/SGI
19th March 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

Re: Coronavirus update – school closure to most students

Following on from my last update, I’m now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the school to almost all students after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please ring the school before Friday with this information to help us with our planning.

We’ll be in touch again as soon as we are sure who this does apply to.

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by email or text.

What we will continue doing while your child is at home

Your child’s learning is of course important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn. All work will be set using ClassCharts and there are email contacts for all subjects/year groups/business services which will be active from Monday.

If your child usually receives free school meals, we will also be in touch with more information about how this will be provided with support from a scheme that the government has just announced.

Also, it has now been confirmed that exams due to be held in May and June will be cancelled but the DfE has said it'll work with others to ensure students get the qualifications they need. The government is yet to announce its plans on how they will ensure children get the qualifications that they need. I will prepare a separate letter for parents of students in Years 11, 12 and 13 when I have further information to share.

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so using email and phone contacts.

And remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.

Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.

Yours sincerely

Mrs K Grewal-Joy
Headteacher

The school will open normal hours on Friday for the following students only: Y7, Y11, Y12, Y13 and children of keyworkers in all year groups (NHS, emergency services, school staff, care workers, Social Care etc.) and children in all year groups who are eligible for free school meals.

For safeguarding reasons, we ask that parents contact the school if their child is unable to attend.

It is good to see the vast majority of students in Years 8, 9 and 10 accessing their home learning tasks. We will be contacting students who have not yet logged on to find out reasons for this. Thank you to parents for your support with home learning.

It is important that you let the school know if your child falls in the key worker group as we may not hold this information. Our objective is to keep our school open and working as much as possible to support the wider national effort.